Chapter 2

I snapped my phone shut, gave Kalla another good hug and told her to sit up, I had some things to tell her about her sister and what Edward had filled me in on. We were both sleep deprived at this point and I didn't need the feel of her warm little body distracting me, cause the thoughts of it already had their effect. I began to tell her that her sister had in fact been raped and beaten and when she was admitted to the emergency room, her condition had been termed extremely critical. They were unsure of a time frame, but felt that she must have been injured for 12-24 hours before she was found. Several broken bones, one of them a rib that punctured her spleen, her nose was broken, and several facial bones were fractured. But the most damaging injuries were a crushed trachea and windpipe cartlage and a concussion with some spinal trauma. I told her that the doctors had placed her in a "chemical coma" so that she would not be fighting and struggling while her body healed. She was so shaken, the look on her face was total dispair.

"What am I going to do? Can we see her? Whats going to happen? " she blurted out.

" Maybe you need to call home and let your parents know whats going on. When we get to the hospital and after you see her and talk to the doctors and you can let them know whats going on."

"No... No, I can't call them. Besides they won't want to know, my dad threw her out a couple years ago. Thats why she is down here."

"And what about you, won't they be wondering how you are?" I asked her.

Her look at that point told me more than I wanted to know. We were pulling in the parking lot when I told her that I was going to stay until we had something figured out. I don't think the truck had stopped rolling before she out the door and headed for the entrance. I had to run to catch up with her going in. The first thing she does is start blasting at the receptionist, I got behind her and started calming her down. Turning to the girl behind the desk, I explained who we needed to see, they were to be expecting us. The girl said yes, that the administrator would be right down as soon as she let him know we were there. I led Kalla over to the chairs in the waiting area.

"Hun, you are going to have to use your head now. I know you are upset, but until you let them know it is your sister, all they know is Jane Doe. And you are going to have to make some decisions that will affect her, I'm sure. I know you love her, but get your head straight to talk to these people. I am not leaving until things are settled, so don't worry about that.", I said, trying to assure her some and get her to settle her anger and hurt.

The man walked up and introduced himself, said he was the administrator for hospital and a friend of Edwards. He would help us get through some of the red tape we were bound to encounter. I introduced myself, and then Kalla as a friend, and proceeded to let him know what was happening and that she needed to see her sister. He led us back to the ICU unit and told the staff nurse what we were there for and what needed to be done. First to make sure it was in fact Jackie, they led her into one of the cubicals and behind the screen, I had held back at the doorway, but moved closer when I heard Kalla gasp and begin to back up. As I came up behind her, I glanced at the bed. The girl laying there was Kallas size and build, IV's in both arms, tubes in her nose and mouth, her nose and right eye bandaged. They had her head in one of the halo-traction devices, and her left arm was in some kind of splint device. Her neck was black from the bruising and the bruising and marks gave evidence that someone tried to strangle her.

I asked Kalla, " Does she any tatoos or scars that you know of that you can tell positively?"

Kalla lifted her weight off me where she had leaned and walked around the bed, lifting the sheet about her waist, I heard her gasp again and then rushed around to catch her before she hit the floor.

" Wh... Wh... Where am I?", famous first words.

" We are here at the hospital, hun. You fainted. Did you see something you recognized? Is that her?", I asked her.

"Yes, yes that is Jackie, she has a scar, thats her! What am I going to do?"

"Well, for starters, you are going to have to take care of all this paperwork before we can do anything else, then the doctors will talk to you, and then we will figure out what comes next."

For the next 6 hours, Kalla wrote and answered questions, the detective we had spoken with earlier showed up and got the information he needed, also letting us know that they had had no leads. We also got the name of the girl that found Jackie and called it in, and the name of the place that she worked. And through out all this time, each time there was a break in the routine, I found arms wrapped about my middle in a hug and I found myself more and more looking forward to the hugs. Several different doctors came and went, all explaining what they were treating her for, all making it very clear that she had a long stay and recovery ahead of her. The doctor in charge of all the treatments and was responsible for drug induce coma, came in and explained that unless something drastic happened, she would remain in this state for at least another 10 days before they began to bring her out of it. Kalla began going on about how she would stay at Jackies house and could use the car and find a job to take care of her sister. She was rattling on and on and I let her get it all out, and then popped her ballon.

"How much money do you have with you?" I asked her, trying to get her to focus on things.

"I have enough to last a little while... I'll find some work."

"How much?"

"I think I have about $60 left, that damn broke down car took most of what I had saved before I left."

"Ok, well heres the deal, the electricity is off at the house, and there is no phone. You don't have any idea what is wrong with the car and getting a job here is going to take time, time that you aren't going to have with dealing with all this. You're tired and need some rest, and you're not going to get it here."

"Well, I can't go back to Texas... and I don't know anyone else here. What am I supposed to do? I'm not just going to leave her here by herself."

"Well, I have a suggestion, but you need to hear me out completely. And right now, we both need something to eat, so lets go do that and we can talk on the way."

We went back to the cubicle and Kalla leaned down and kissed her sister on the cheek and whispered something, then came back with tears again touching the edges of her eyes. We got outside and to the truck and headed to find something to eat. I wanted someplace where we could sit and talk so we found one of those country kitchen places and went inside. I didn't realize how hungry I was until I smelled the food, then it was a quest. After we each had ordered, I began to tell her what I thought she needed to do.

"First thing we need to do is get someplace to stay for the night, where we can get cleaned up and get some rest. It will also give the hospital a place they reach you should they need anything else soon. A hot shower or a good soak in a tub is not going to make all this go away, but I can assure you it will make you feel better, and a good nights sleep is going to help too."

"Then, in the morning, we can check on Jackie and then go by the house and take care of some things there."

"How can I do all that? I won't have enough money to be able to." she said, and I could see more tears ready to fall.

"You let me worry about that for the time being, let's just get this thing sorted out and go from there."

"But, how can I thank you? I'm going to repay you everything, I'll get a job and give you whatever I owe you."

The food came about that time and all I can remember doing was nodding my head and just about inhaling what was on the plate. As I slowly regained my sanity, which I seem to lose when I get this hungry, I realized that she had barely touched her food and was watching me. I excused my manners for eating the way I obviously had and explained to her that I usually get like a bear when I was that hungry and was surprised I hadn't gnawed someones head off before this. Then she hit me with a question I really didn't have the answer for.

"Why are you doing all this? You don't know me... or my sister, so why are you doing this?", she asked.

My face more than likely told most of the story, but I was quiet a couple of minutes while I thought of how to respond.

"Well, you've heard the expression 'been there, done that!' is part of it. I wasn't quite in your position, but was broke down, no money, miles and miles from home, no one to call. I will always remember the feeling, and always remember the strangers that helped me. And besides, the past year for me has not been a real pleasure, most everything I did was only with me in mind, it's kinda nice to be needed again. And as far as thanks go, you just did that with your smile, that and a couple of your hugs will be plenty thanks."

She ate a few more bites and I reminded her that there were starving children in Africa and... a half starved man across the table. She shoved the plate over and laughed, "No wonder you have no one waiting for you at home, they would have to stay in the kitchen cooking all the time to keep you happy." I feigned a hurt look, and then smiled and told her it wouldn't be the kitchen where the heat was.

A big grin on her face, she left to go look at the knick knacks in the store at the front of the restuarant. I finished the plate, grabbed the check, and headed for the cashier. A few minutes later, we were headed back in the vacinity of the hospital. There was a hotel about a block from it that looked fairly decent. I made a quick stop at Wal World and picked up some shave things, a toothbrush and a change of clothes. Some snack things and we were on our way. At the hotel, I told Kalla to grab some thing from her stuff, unless she wanted to take the whole bag up to the room, and I would go get us a couple of rooms.

She kind of looked down and said, " Ummm... I really don't want to be by myself, could you just get us one room with 2 beds?"

"Yeah..." I mumbled out, getting out of the truck and going in, thinking that this might not be a good idea. One room with 2 big beds, a view of the pool in the middle of the courtyard and PLENTY of hot water. I pulled the truck around back by the room and she grabbed the key, I grabbed everything else. She had the door open and turned on the TV first thing, and as I dropped the stuff on the dresser, she asked if I wanted the shower first. I told her to go ahead as I had a couple calls to make and was going to check out the news. She disappeared into the bathroom and a few minutes later I heard the water run.